I'm not typically one to overshare on something like this, but it would be nice to have an outlet of conversation aside from my directly involved family, and since this could be an ongoing thing for awhile... I trust this community, and I suspect it will be therapeutic to get it all down somewhere a little more private than Facebook, but still discussable.
As some of you may have seen on FB, I'm currently in the midst of pretty terrible event concerning my family. One of my cousins, the son of my father's younger sister, has recently been struck by a car and put in very serious condition. His name is Christopher, he's 24, which puts him just a touch over a year older than me (I turned 23 on Monday, the day it happened), and he's enlisted in the Marine Corps. He's served two full tours of duty, one in Iraq and the most recent on the front lines of Afghanistan (when they were aggressively clearing out entire regions, with much more conflict than was widely publicized), he had since returned and was serving the rest of his tour in North Carolina on Camp Legeun.
The incident happened as he crossed the street on base, early in the morning on his way to work. Details are scant in terms of witnesses or exactly what the driver was doing before and after, but a vehicle struck him on his left side, sent him hurling nearly 50 feet, where he slammed off of another passing car. His wife was apparently nearby, and either saw it or was on the scene almost immediately after. He was given a "less than 24 hours" prognosis at the base hospital, before being life-flighted to Greensville, NC. There he got a much more hopeful prognosis, which included survival and possible full recovery.
My father and I are currently sharing a vehicle, so I found out Monday morning as we carpooled- at that point, we only knew he had been hit and that it wasn't good. It wasn't an hour after I got to the CHUD office that my father called me and told me that Christopher wasn't expected to survive and we decided to get up there as quickly as possible to meet my aunts and uncles, as well as my grandfather. I picked Dad up and we drove the ~8 hours to Greenville. While he didn't look as outwardly bad as expected, I have to admit it was pretty disturbing to see him as fucked up as he is. Much of my time is spent watching movies with the most cutting edge make-up and effects, and yet they can never quite capture the reality. At that point we found out the list; broken left ankle, all major ligaments in the left knee torn, bruised kidney, broken ribs, collapsed left lung, dislocated shoulder, a massive gash in the back of his head, frontal contusions, and severe head trauma. The sheer number of tubes, pipes, and monitors attached to him was staggering. The most disturbing was a cranial pressure sensor that jutted directly out of the top of his head. He was in a coma, though they said he would likely still be able to breath without the respirator, which they had attached to relieve his body of stress.
My father and I could only stay long enough to help make sure hotel arrangements for the family worked out, to see everyone get fed, and visit for a while. It would take another 1000+ words to describe all of the unlucky events this family has had to endure recently, but obviously none compare... Unfortunately this morning my father got word to me that the neurosurgeon delivered a fairly grim prognosis. I was told, "Apparently if 0-3 is braindead, Christopher is currently at a 5." So it doesn't look good for his recovery, at least as the whole, healthy person he was. Later in the day I heard mention of some hope-indicating eye movement, or pupil response, but I imagine the roller-coaster has already begun. There's still major swelling for him to survive the next few days, but I assume after that will be a long haul of hopeful and grim news that will alternate back and forth until it becomes clear that we've essentially lost him. I haven't given up on him though- he's still a whole, healthy Marine, and if anyone will fight out of it, it's him.
Outside of that though, I must admit, I'd prefer he not recover only to the point of being a completely dependent, braindead vegetable. I think his son would be much better served by a memory of his father, rather than a shadow of him. I think he'd be better served by a family that steps up to a singular, terrible tragedy to support him, than to be forced to shoulder the burden for the rest of his childhood of an aging human shell that contains nothing of his real father. These are my biggest fears, and I might have gotten a bit cynical at the end there, but there's still a long way to go. I appreciate your patience with the story, and will certainly accept all good vibes and energy for him. Life must carry on.
EDIT: I felt I should note, since people have all kinds of different relationship with cousins and other family like that, that he and I were actually fairly close. We haven't spent a ton of time together since college, but my family convened for birthdays and holidays on a monthly+ basis till I was at last 18. A vast majority of my notable childhood memories are of playing with my three cousins at my grandparent's house.
